A small Spanish startup called GeeksPhone has started selling phones that let developers get a taste of Mozilla's new Firefox OS.

GeeksPhone announced two 3G phones for the browser-based operating system, the lower-end Keon and higher-end Peak. The phones, while geared for programmers rather than mainstream customers, make Mozilla's open-source mobile OS a lot more real, since programmers will be able to develop apps as well as to debug and advance the underlying operating system.

Firefox OS is Mozilla's ambitious attempt to build an operating system that brings more openness to the walled gardens of Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Although the latter is an open-source project, it's run in secrecy by Google and its corporate allies and is closely linked to Google's ecosystem of app distribution and online services. Apple's iOS is even more closely locked down, with proprietary source code and only Apple-approved apps on the app store.

Walled gardens or not, iOS and Android have been very popular for phones and tablets, and it's not clear whether the mass market truly wants an alternative even if it shuns lock-in. And even if some customers do value the openness, it won't be easy for Firefox OS to gain a competitive foothold.

But the GeeksPhone models at least make it possible for Mozilla and its allies -- Telefonica and Qualcomm, among others -- to try.

However, it's not yet clear how much the phones will cost or when they'll ship. CNET has contacted GeeksPhone and will update this post if they reply.

"This week we are announcing our new Firefox OS developer preview phones because we believe that developers will help bring the power of the Web to mobile," wrote Stormy Peters, director of Web sites and developer engagement at Mozilla, in a blog post today.

The Web indeed brings a taste of cross-platform programming nirvana to developers sick of recrafting their apps for different operating systems. But though any new smartphone or computer these days has a browser, there are still differences among them. And performance issues remain a bugaboo -- after early enthusiasm, Facebook dissed Web apps and went native for its mobile apps on Android and iOS.

According to its LinkedIn profile, GeeksPhone is based in Madrid, Spain, and has 10 or fewer employees. It got its start in 2009 when it launched an Android phone.

Both phones also have 4GB of ROM, 512MB of RAM, a MicroSD slot, 802.11n wireless networking, light and proximity sensors, GPS, an accelerometer, and a camera flash.

Firefox OS is a browser-based operating system still under development, with the first final version not yet available. Although it draws on Android and Linux for foundational software, it runs Web apps written with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. That makes it a mobile analog to Google's Chrome OS.

To run those Web apps, Firefox OS naturally uses the Gecko browser engine that's also the foundation of Firefox. Mozilla is adapting the engine with new interfaces to let Web apps take advantage of all the hardware features. Firefox OS got its start with the project name Boot to Gecko, or B2G.

Using this browser-based approach poses some technical challenges, but it also means that a huge amount of services already work on the phone, at least in principle, simply by pointing the phone at a Web page.

Peters exhorted programmers to see the openness light and create apps for Firefox OS. Her reasons:

 Keep the Web open. Support the open Web and help make sure the power of the Web is available to everyone - even on mobile devices.

 Simplicity. Develop on a single technology stack (HTML5/CSS/JavaScript/new WebAPIs) and deliver across the web and devices.

 Freedom. You're not locked in to a vendor-controlled ecosystem. You can distribute your app through the Firefox Marketplace, your own Web site, or any other store based on Mozilla's open app store technology.

About the author

Stephen Shankland has been a reporter at CNET since 1998 and covers browsers, Web development, digital photography and new technology. In the past he has been CNET's beat reporter for Google, Yahoo, Linux, open-source software, servers and supercomputers. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces.
See full bio